japanese restaurant – BENTO

January 10, 2013

Salmon Bento

Makunouchi Bento

Karaage Bento

Onigiri Bento

Tezukuri Bento

Chara Ben

It is food prepared and packed in a container to eat at school mainly for high school students, work or special occasions such as field trips and sports festivals. There is mainly home-made and store-prepared Bento. The well-known and popular Bento is Makunouchi with rice and other side dishes, Salmon Bento and Nori (seaweed) Bento.

You can make a to-go Bento order, but it is more common to eat Bento in a box-like container with dividers at a restaurant. You may see Tempura or Teriyaki in one of the divided sections. One Bento can provide you with a variety of nutritious foods at once. Rice, meat, fish and vegetables are all in one Bento box! It is healthy and convenient!

As you many know, Noh and Kabuki are traditional Japanese singing and dancing performances. During the intervals of the plays, called Makuai in Japanese, people ate Bento and this special Bento had become known as Makunouchi Bento. This seems to be a widely-accepted theory. It originally contains rice-bag shaped rice balls, broiled and seasoned dishes, potatoes, Japanese rolled omelet, and grilled eel.

The long-loved items are rolled omelet, sausage wiener, deep-fried chicken and meatball, etc. The sausage wiener is prepared into various shapes such as octopuses, crabs, hearts and flowers, adding a nice touch to Bento.

As a new trend, Bento called “Charaben” has also been created to display various anime characters and dolls using different ingredients.